An absolute travesty is taking place in the NHL right now.The leader in GAA, Save %, and shutouts is no where close to being voted to the all-star game. By all means Brian Elliott should be the starter for the Western Conference, but instead the leading vote-getter for the West is Nashville's Pekka Rinne with a current GAA over 2.50.
Two of the top 15 goalie candidates are write-ins: Detroit's Jimmy Howard and Chicago's Corey Crawford. Versus made sure to recognize the fact that Howard deserved write-in votes on national TV while Detroit was playing, and losing to, Brian Elliott, whom did not get much of a mention.
This is the problem with the all-star ballot coming out way too early and staking who gets on that ballot based on reputation. This is the whole problem with promoting the athletes rather than the game.
Since Syd the Kid and Alex "I Play When I Want To" Ovechkin came around, the league has been all about marketing the stars to reach a wider audience, because that is what other sports do. Yeah, the other sports that have over-blown salaries and boisterous, arrogant athletes. The sports that caused Albert Pujols to leave a city that he "loved" because God told him to go with the $254 million instead of the $220 million.
Real hockey fans know it is the GAME and team play that deserves to be promoted, not the stars.
The Blues are a perfect example. They are promoting team play with no big stars (no one over 20 points) and climbing the latter in the Western Conference. Not one Blue is amongst 30 forwards, 20 defensemen, or 15 goalies leading the all-star vote. Not sure if any skaters or defensemen are deserving, but Goalie Brian Elliott is.
It is a crime that Elliott is not #1 in the goaltender vote. He has not played like an all-star, but more like a legend. He will make the squad, as a coaches pick post-fan balloting. And the coach that will most likely pick him: Ken Hitchcock of course, as he takes a non-all-star-having team into the break... at first place.
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